Okay, I threatened to do this a while ago and now I’m doing it. I’m putting my fingers to the key board to answer the question – how did Bristol last as long as she did? Was it really a Tea Party, or just dumb luck and silly judges?

This post isn’t really even about Bristol herself – it’s about the judges scores versus the voting. People always claim that the judges scores mean nothing. Well, bull, they’re worth 50% – it’s the judges who decide whether they mean very little or if they mean A LOT. The way the judges scored most of this season, they were irrelevant. When push came to shove, in the finale, they got their act together. I argue that it should happen sooner – like Week 7 or so.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get back to business with a recap:

Week 1 – The Departure of The Hoff

I consider this the first, and one of the bigger, shocks of the season. But maybe German’s didn’t realize they can indeed vote on DWTS, if they are properly educated on how to do so. 🙂 Anyway, the bottom scorers this week were:

So, that one really shouldn’t have been a shock, as he was one of the low scorers. No surprise that Bristol stayed, much surprise that Margaret stayed. 🙂 Bristol had a whole lot of people with lower scores (and less infamy) than her.

Week 2 – Dog Houses are very, very bad.

Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower exit the competition after a thorough humiliation. One that was hard to watch indeed. The bottom scorers were:

– Michael, 12
– Margaret, 18
– The Situation, 18
– Florence, 19

See, the judges were already giving Bristol 22 at this point for dancing that wasn’t that good. You expect me to believe that Bristol was only 2 points behind Jennifer Grey, who did a seriously kick ass jive?? Sorry, but nope. In any case, Bristol was never in any danger thanks to overscoring AND people who were worse than her. Anyway, Michael was no great shock really, now that I think about it. A 12 is very hard to overcome when the next lowest was an 18. He had to get 27,000 more votes per million votes cast in order to stick around.

Week 3 – Rainbows are bad too??

Nah, not really. Louis was saying on Twitter that Margaret going the gay pride route was what did her in, but what I really think happened was that after that first dance no one took her seriously. She lasted as long as she did because The Hoff and The Bolton were so much worse. I don’t think gay pride had anything to do with it – but maybe I’m naïve. The bottom scorers were:

– Margaret, 18
– Bristol, 19
– Florence, 20
– The Sitch, 20

Now we see Bristol hit the bottom 2 in scores – but Margaret is the low scorer, here. No great stretch. Marge needed 4,500 votes to catch Bristol (chump change) and there is no way that was happening. No shocks here.

Week 4 – Here’s the Situation as I see it

Poor Situation, and by extension, poor Courtney. 🙂 He did well making it to the fourth week though, I have to say. The bottom scorers this week were:

– Situation, 28
– Bristol, 32
– Florence, 34
– Kurt, 35

Again, we see Bristol insulated by a 4 point cushion – not a huge number, but she’s not the low scorer and Sitch was a worse dancer. For the Situation to stay, he had to get 11,200 more votes than Bristol per 1 million votes cast. Say thank you to your judges, because they are charting the course of Season 11 history here. That 4 points isn’t huge – but it still counts. No great shock that Bristol stuck around when put up against a relative unknown (to DWTS audience) guy who is 4 points behind her. And him being the worse dancer helped. 🙂

Week 5 – Serious Monkey Business

This is the week where the wheels fell off, IMO. I dare say that Michael Bolton was more than a little irate to see Bristol wear a Monkey suit and still get an 18. I dare say that any pro who’s gotten scolded pretty harshly from Len for use of a prop (Maks, Derek, Dmitry…) was more than a little irate at the end of this night as well. Remember when Nicole and Derek did a FANTASTIC quickstep that broke a ton of rules? Len gave them a 6. Then Len turns around this season and gives Bristol a 6 after forgetting most of her steps and wearing a Monkey suit. And you still wanna know why Bristol is still around at this point? 🙂 Hint: it ain’t the Tea Party – unless of course Len whipped out his silver tea set on the commercial break. 🙂 Check out this weeks scores:

– Bristol, 18
– Kyle, 20
– Florence, 21
– Audrina, 23

Kyle the Popular is only TWO points ahead of a girl who danced in a monkey suit. TWO. And Audrina, who dances better on her worst day than Bristol does on her best, is only 5 points ahead of girl in monkey suit. Florence is only three points ahead of Bristol – and three points ain’t nothing particularly when 8 or 7 people are getting votes. The voting is spread out over more people than it is in later weeks. Florence ultimately goes home, which means that:

Kyle got 5,500 more votes per million votes cast than she did, AND;

Bristol got 16,500 more votes per million votes cast than she did.

That may seem like a lot for Bristol to achieve, but in reality it is only 1.65 percent – a tiny number. Here’s another way to look at it: this was the week where you got 8 votes per phone and 8 votes per email address. So say the average person uses one phone and one email – that means only about 1,000 more people needed to vote for Bristol than they did for Florence. Of course not everyone who watches votes…but everyone who votes doesn’t use ONLY two accounts. We’re dealing in what could be very small numbers, here.

Week 6 – The Real Shocker

Okay, THIS was a shocking elimination – but after you really think about it for a bit, you realize maybe not. Audrina is in the top two for judge’s scores and goes home. Because of Bristol? Hardly. There was a lot more at play here. These were the scores for the week:

There are FIVE people with lower scores than Audrina going into the audience vote. Five. The spread between the low scorer and Audrina is TEN points. Now that is a nice big number. But is it shocking that Bristol stayed and Audrina when home? No – there is only 4 points between them, while Kurt is 10 points behind her. When the second highest scorer goes home when there are 7 dancers?? It means that person wasn’t getting votes, period, not that Kurt and Bristol had huge fanbases. It wasn’t just Bristol that beat her, after all. Kurt had to get nearly 5% more of the vote than her, or 48,500 more votes per million votes cast. Bristol only needed 1.93% – her highest margin of the season up until the finale. And of course, Jennifer, Rick and Kyle all had to make up a difference as well.

Audrina suffered from the model curse, IMO. Very beautiful but relatively unknown to the DWTS voters. Combine that with being paired with Tony and having a high score that week and you can kiss her goodbye. People continue to assume that if a dancer has a high score they are safe. Several of us on this blog had expressed concern about her longevity for these reasons. Put Audrina up against the movie icon, the fun Disney kid, the daughter of an infamous political figure, and two well liked (and well known) athletes? Then pair her with Tony instead of Derek and her odds get worse. Nothing against Tony, but, like it or not, Derek can make a model stick around longer – Joanna Krupa was far more unpopular than Audrina was popular. With all these conditions, Audrina was never destined to go higher.

Week 7 – The Athletes Split the Votes

That’s one of my theories anyway. People who are inclined to go the athlete route had two to choose from. Still think it’s Bristol’s fault? Nah. This is only the second time that Bristol has been the low scorer and it isn’t by that much:

– Bristol, 57
– Kyle, 59
– Rick/Kurt, 61
– Jennifer/Brandy, 64

There is a significant problem here. First, when you hand out that many points in a week (366) and still keep the margin at 7 points between the top and bottom you actually decrease the percentage the low scorer needs to stick around. If they did the typical 30 point possible and had a spread between the top scorer and the bottom scorer of 7 points, the bottom scorer would need more than 5% to beat the top scorer. In this week, with a total points awarded of 366, there was ONLY a spread of 1.91% between Bristol and Brandy/Jennifer. When you are talking less than a percent between the bottom FOUR scorers, of course it’s going to be anyone’s game. Did Rick’s fans assume he was safe because of that four point cushion? Who knows? Were Kyle and Bristol fans really, really worried?? Probably. If those two sets of fans are worried, how hard do they really have to work? Kyle’s fans had to get 0.55% more and Bristol’s fans had to get 1.01% more. Piece. Of. Cake. Odds are always good that the low scorers fans are going to vote like maniacs and it doesn’t take many maniacs to make up 1.01%.

Week 8 – Well, I think it was Close.

Seriously, Kurt versus Bristol with Bristol being the low scorer – but only by a point. We know what a point really means at this point, don’t we? Nothing. In this case, it was obviously going to be one of the two of them and I wager it was very close. Of course, I base that on what happened in the finale, so of course hind sight is 20-20. Here were the scores for Week 8:

– Bristol, 47
– Kurt, 48
– Kyle, 57
– Brandy/Jennifer, 58

Much better point spread this week between the top and the bottom – but still that 10 points only means that Bristol is 3.77 percent behind Brandy/Jennifer. That’s a small number and it’s again the result of a higher number of points awarded. So, if there is only 3.77 % between the top and bottom, it’s not hard to believe that there is only 0.38% between Bristol and Kurt – that’s no spread at all. I will say it again – Bristol didn’t need a miracle to stay over Kurt. Not at all. She only needed a couple dozen more fans than Kurt who were passionate about her staying. Maybe not even that many if they were power voting.

Week 9 – Tragedy

Well, I think it was a tragedy, anyway. Even though my favorite won, I would have liked to see a real competition. Brandy/Kyle/Jennifer would have been great. But the question is – did Bristol play spoiler? Hmmm…Maybe for the first time. But how much of it was Bristol and how much of it was Brandy herself? How much of it was the judges?? Again, the judges had a great deal of influence – look at the scores:

– Bristol, 53
– Brandy, 57
– Kyle, 58
– Jennifer, 60

Bristol only 4 points behind Brandy? Seriously?? People keep saying the judges scores mean nothing, but I think they’ve got it backwards – the judges scores mean everything, just not in a good way. By scoring Bristol relative only to herself, THEY give her more potential to stick around longer. Now, I understand doing that early on – but this was the 9th week and it was time to turn into a hard ass and they all FAILED. Sometimes I think the judges think they are being tough, like above, giving Bristol a 53. Problem is, they don’t really get how the scoring and the audience vote works out either – or it doesn’t appear so, anyway. Because that 4 points equals 1.75%. How many time have I said how little 4 points amounts to? It’s a pittance. When you have Kyle being a likeable teddy bear, Jennifer Grey being JENNIFER GREY and Bristol getting all the buzz (plus the Vote for the Worst crew), Brandy is going to need more than that 4 points – she wasn’t getting any attention that week. No attention = kiss of death.

Week 10 – The Finale Tells the Tale.

And Bristol takes 3rd. And in doing so we learn the limits of her voting fanbase. The final scores were:

– Bristol, 104
– Kyle, 110
– Jennifer, 118

Again, because so many points were awarded, the spread between them goes down even though the points difference seems greater. That six points between Kyle and Bristol only equates to 2.75%, which is not that much greater than the spread between her and Brandy. But it is clearly enough to knock Bristol out of the game. I think there were a few things at work here – the judges finally started scoring them relative to each other, or seriously ranking them. When they do that, it makes an impact. But that wasn’t all – people finally figured out that if they didn’t want Bristol to win, they had to vote like hell for someone else. The highest number of votes in the history of the show isn’t going to benefit Bristol, as much as the Tea Party would like to think otherwise – hey, DWTS mirrors real life!! 😉

At the end of the day, Bristol was eliminated because she couldn’t get past the 2.75% between her and Kyle. That was the largest spread she ever had to overcome over the entire 10 weeks of the competition. Here’s a summation of where Bristol was each week – if she was the low scorer, I put the margin she had to overcome.

– Week 1 – Not in the bottom 4

– Week 2 – Not in the bottom 5

– Week 3 – Margaret was low scorer, Margaret went home

– Week 4 – Sitch was low scorer, Sitch went home

– Week 5 – 1.65%

– Week 6 – Kurt was low score by 6 points, Audrina went home

– Week 7 – 1.01%

– Week 8 – 0.38%

– Week 9 – 1.75%

– Week 10 – 2.75% – Bristol is eliminated first.

Now, do you still think that it’s surprising that Bristol lasted as long as she did?? I would hope not. I would also hope that people realize they have to vote for their favorite because the judges don’t put in enough of a spread between the dancers to amount to anything.

The moral of the story is – the judges scores mean everything, when they actually rank the contestants. 😉 But if they don’t?? You best vote.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Hi Everyone! What’s up in your dancing worlds on this weekend? Have you voted in our PURE DWTS END OF THE SEASON AWARDS Yet? If not, time is getting away. If you haven’t done so yet, please VOTE now >>>> HERE !!

Well, if you’ve been reading some of the entertainment headlines this week, there are a lot of rumors saying DWTS officials are eyeing Todd Palin for the show next year. A site called Thirdage is reporting that Meghan McCain is also a possible contender. But, check out the last question this site asks in the take below while they report on these two rumors that grabbed my attention.

One obvious reason that ABC would want to recruit Todd Palin comes from the unprecedented buzz on the show this past season stemming from Bristol Palin’s involvement.

“They want him big time,” a source told E! Online. “They’d love Sarah, but they don’t think that will ever happen, so why not go for the dad.”

The show is apparently also after Meghan McCain, daughter of 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain. This season, Jennifer Grey was crowned winner but Bristol Palin’s long stay and unprecedented fan support became a talking point.

Perhaps the question to ask then becomes: Is Dancing with the Stars intentionally recruiting top GOP connections for more than entertainment purposes?

I hate to say it. But, if this rumor is true, why are they only wanting contenders from the GOP? If they are seriously wanting to continue having someone connected to politics to dance, why don’t they pick someone from another Party?

Anyway, I really hope, like many of you have expressed, we won’t have to go down the same political road next Season. But, being ratings were so good for Season 11, I’m fearing DWTS officials will repeat themselves?

Speaking of Palins, did you know our 3rd place winner this Season and The Situation made a “Pause before you play” commercial for the “Candie’s Foundation“?

I thought the video had a really cool message. However, Keith Olbermann thought differently. Here is a take of that report from The Washington Post and how Bristol responded to him on it.

In the PSA, Bristol and The Situation exchanged lively banter as to whether abstinence or a better grade of condom made the most sense for teens contemplating a roll in the hay. Extra points if you can guess which person advocated which.

“Bristol Palin, she has done a public service announcement this The Situation guy from TV’s ‘Jersey Shore.’ It’s about abstinence and safe sex. Sadly, it is not a spoof done by The Onion,” Olbermann said, showing a clip of the PSA.

Olbermann continued: “She’s the Candies spokesperson for abstinence? She and her son? Because it’s got to work this time? This is like saying George Bush kept us safe except for that 9/11 thing, which doesn’t count.”

Bristol responded, at great length, via Facebook:

Recently, a left wing commentator named Keith Olbermann attacked me for being a spokesperson for abstinence education and for being an Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, which promotes teen pregnancy awareness and prevention education. He went so far as to call me “the worst person” he knows, apparently, for my efforts to educate teenagers about the real world risks of premarital sex.

Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard. What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity. Mr. Olbermann fails to understand that in order to have credibility as a spokesperson, it sometimes takes a person who has made mistakes. Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy.

I have never claimed to be perfect. If that makes me the “worst person in the world” to Mr. Olbermann, then I must apologize for not being absolutely faultless like he undoubtedly must be.

To Mr. Olbermann let me say this: you can attack me all you want. But you will not stop me from getting my message out about teen pregnancy prevention. And one day, if you ever have a daughter, you may change your mind about me.

In other things to report, there is a cool interview up at The Washington Post with David Hasselhoff. Here is what he said on his Dancing With The Stars experience. Be sure to read the link for more.

I also wanted to ask you about “Dancing With the Stars.” You were the first contestant eliminated in this last season. That had to sting a little bit…
The funny thing about it is I got more press out of being kicked off first than if I’d won. I didn’t have to go through 10 weeks of hell. It was great. At first I was disappointed because of Kym [Johnson] because we worked so hard. I’ve done Broadway, done the “Producers” and I’ve danced. But it takes me a few weeks to figure out what “5,6,7,8” really means. I was just breaking through and they told me to camp it up and be funny. And the funniest part about it is the show got the highest ratings in the history of the show when I was on and it got the highest ratings on the finale when I appeared again. So I smile about that.

In a way I was kind of thinking it’s not about the dancing. It’s about who’s popular right now and who’s got the most Twitters and fan support. But it was a very good positive experience and I have nothing but respect for the dancers.

I have to ask, since it was a controversial season, what do you think about how far Bristol Palin got in the competition? Did she deserve to go that far?
I think that, you know, life is not fair. Who deserves what? There’s got to be a reason for it all in the end. I think when I die I’ll ask god, “Hey God, what about Bristol?” He’ll say, “You know we tried to get her mom in the White House and that didn’t work out, so we’ll use this, but then she became the president so it all worked out great.” I don’t know. Who knows? It’s a dancing show, for god’s sake.

We’re sending kids off to Iraq and Afghanistan and no one talks about them. And we’re sitting here talking about “Dancing with the Stars” and Bristol Palin.

The funny part about it is she’s a nice person. A lovely girl. I judge a person, like Martin Luther King said, on the content of their character. She happened to be very kind, very sweet and very shy. It couldn’t have been easy for her being thrust into that, but you know, it made for entertaining television. It’s like they say, “As long as they’re talking about ya, they’re talking about ya.”

So I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re not a Sarah Palin supporter.
I don’t really know her game yet. I really cannot say. I haven’t taken the time — right now I’m just trying to support my daughters and make sure I have enough shirts clean because I’m flying all over the world.

It’s a great time right now, to be honest. If I can say one thing I’ve enjoyed about this show more than anything, it’s been spending time with my daughters.

Is Jennifer Grey thinking of doing Broadway following in the footsteps of her Dad? Broadway.com explores the possibilty.

Daddy Joel fueled a rumor that Jennifer might be interested in appearing with him in the Broadway revival of Chicago (in which he created the role of Amos Hart), teasingly telling Broadway.com, “Maybe she’ll play Velma Kelly, not Roxie. You know what I mean?” Asked about the possibility of portraying a Merry Murderess, Grey responded, “I love that show, but I’m open to anything. There’s always amazing choreography going on here [on Broadway]. As long as I don’t have to do a different dance every week—or four different dances every week!—that really appeals to me.”

So, could a Jennifer/Joel Broadway pairing be in the works? “I would love to work with my dad!” she exclaimed. “We’ve never done anything live together. I’m always open to working with talented people, and I think my dad certainly qualifies.”

As for the demands of Broadway-style singing, Grey said, “I have sung, but I haven’t sung in any way that I would ever call myself ‘a singer.’ But if the right show came along and I worked with a really great Broadway vocal coach, I think I could do it. We’ll see what happens.”

This week Karina whipped Access Hollywood Live’s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover into shape using unique moves from her new workout DVD, “Shape Up with Karina Smirnoff.” Check them out here.

Brandy did a media blitz this week where she talked about her career plans with brother RayJ, her Dancing With The Stars experience, and more. Here are some videos in case you missed her on the Joy Behar show, Lopez Tonight, and Access Live.

And lastly, some Derek news (take this with a grain of salt though since many British sources are “HIGHLY unreliable” as Heidi has said). Simon Cowell has reportedly offered Derek a position on the US version of The X Factor. From Digital Spy.

Taking the job as choreographer would see him quit his role on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, The Sun reports.

“He is in discussions for the job,” a source told the paper. “Taking it would mean [Cole and Hough] could be together at home and work.”

The news comes just days after it was claimed that Hough’s close friend Cheryl Cole has landed a £3million deal to join the show as a judge.

I hope this isn’t true. I want him to stay on DWTS!!

Ok, that is all for you for now. Voguerista over and out. Let us know how it’s hangin’. 😉 xxx

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

DWTS was the top three shows for last week! Apparently, the premiere is up 20-some percent from last fall’s premiere, but down from the spring premiere – this is from a source that I saw earlier in the week and, of course, can’t find again. You’ll have to take my word for that part. All in all, 21 million viewers is pretty damn good. 🙂

CBS earned a 7.8 rating/13 share average in overnight of Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. this week in non-news, non-event programming. Although ABC had three of the week’s highest-rated shows — all coming as segments of “Dancing With the Stars,” its 7.4/12 finish just wasn’t enough to overcome CBS’ dominance.

ABC averaged an 11.0/17 with its top five shows compared to a 9.7/15 from CBS. But it was the bottom five that was a killer for ABC. New shows “My Generation” and “The Whole Truth” flopped for the Disney-owned channel while CBS stayed above a 4.0 household rating overall — “Medium” was its lowest rated program this week. ABC’s bottom five averaged a 4.4/7 compared to the 5.6/10 from CBS, creating the difference between the two.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I never get to this stuff until the weekend, so pardon me but a lot of this stuff is also from BEFORE the show aired. And there’s a good bit of it, so it will likely be a series of posts. 🙂 This is not comprehensive, I’m sure.

Some of this you may have seen on the web, but these are all the televised versions – some are slightly different than what was on the web.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Occassionally I am driven to post interesting little tidbits of news I find around the web. It’s not a statement of whether I believe the posted news is actually true or not. Sometimes I just find stuff funny. 🙂 Like this bit from PopEater.com:

First? The Hoff Shocked ‘Dancing’ Fans Dropped Him So Fast

David Hasselhoff was feeling hassled after becoming the first celebrity voted off ‘Dancing With the Stars’ on Tuesday. Friends and insiders close to the ‘Baywatch’ star and the hit show tell me David was shocked and humiliated by the surprising results.

“David thought he had a bigger fan base and just can’t understand what happened,” a friend of The Hoff’s tells me. “He honestly thought he had a chance to win this competition. He would have never agreed to even participate if he thought for one second he would be the first to go.”

And just like his dance moves, the bruised actor didn’t exactly accept his defeat with grace.

“David is blaming everyone but himself for the vote,” an insider tells me. “Backstage after the show, he was blaming the producers, the lighting guys and even the costume department.”

Cheryl is writing her blogs for MSN.com this season – interesting to hear her talk about the height difference with Rick. Click the link to read the whole thing:

This year is sure to be a lot of fun since we have a really great cast. There are so many different personalities and every season is so different, so it’s fun to learn more and more about all the cast members. This year is going to be challenging for me because I’m dancing with someone quite tall. I’ve never danced with a man so tall before in my whole dancing career. For me, it’s going to be a different challenge than I’ve ever had on the show. I’m partnered with Rick Fox who is 6’7” and I’m 5’4”, so our height difference is insane.

Rick is doing well so far in rehearsals and if he has his fan base behind him and he doesn’t do bad and continues to improve every week, then I think we might have a chance to make it pretty far. The goal going into every season is always to win or make it quite far in the competition, and I see a lot of potential in Rick. The first few days I was a little scared since I was thinking, “this guy is so tall and I don’t know what I’ll do with him,” but I just decided to start at the beginning and taught him how to walk gracefully and how to use his height and long arms to our advantage. The difference in height is so dramatic, the shoe department of the show had to make me custom 4” heels so I could at least reach up to his chest level. I have always competed in 3” heels, and even that 1” is a big difference. It’s been a challenge, but it’s been a great challenge for me the last few weeks. It’s been fun to mold someone of his height into a dancer.

Mark’s writing his for USA Today – it’s kinda short and I don’t want to post the whole thing, so follow this link to read more:

What a show! I’m shocked that David Hasselhoff left. I’m really going to miss him screaming in the hallways of our rehearsal space with his booming voice! Seriously though, his partner, Kym (Johnson) is a dear friend, and I’m bummed she couldn’t stay longer.

I’m really proud of Bristol. She’s come so far in such a short amount of time, and I’m excited to continue to teach her as the competition carries on. We have the Quick Step this week, which I think will suit Bristol nicely. This dance is all about elegance and class, which she oozes.

I found this article from The Guardian interesting, and it’s clear that I’m American through and through because I prefer DWTS. 🙂

Dancing With The Stars v Strictly: which has the fancier footwork?
Which do you give top marks to? The glitz and glamour of the US show or the British version’s stern tellings-off

Thought you’d had enough celebrity-dancing launch-show excitement for one month? It appears not. Strictly might have unveiled its celebrity lineup a fortnight ago, but tonight its bigger, brasher, American cousin Dancing With The Stars hits UK screens. And as ever, this is going to be a series worth watching.

Everything is so much shinier and slicker on the US show than it is in Strictly. There are the hosts: Tom Bergeron who is more adept at reading an autocue than not-doddery-doddery-he-is-apparently-not Bruce Forsyth; and Brooke Burke who, while surprisingly inept at proffering a microphone to the person she’s interviewing, at least has expertise of the competition – she’s a former DwtS champion. Then there’s the music: while Strictly’s Dave Arch and his wonderful orchestra are great, the Dancing with the Stars band is conducted by legendary MD Harold Wheeler. And, of course, the celebrities.

And therein lies the main difference between the two series. In DwtS, you can expect to see maximums given out by the third or fourth week of the series – presumably because American audiences like to see their celebrities do well – with Goodman and his fellow judges Carrie-Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli (who’s even more camp and screechy than he is on Strictly) happy to overmark.

On Strictly, however, you’ll be lucky to see a maximum score of 40 prior to the semi-finals – although since Arlene Phillips left the judging panel we’ve been solely reliant on Craig Revel-Horwood to bring a modicum of sense to the proceedings. Add to that the fact that American ballroom dancing seems to be judged on different criteria half the time (watch their version of the Viennese waltz and you’ll see) and it’s no wonder that the US celebrities seem to do better than their UK counterparts.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Ahhh…it’s good to be back being sarcastic and snarky. Oh, wait, I never stopped. 🙂 The Cheesecake Awards this week aren’t for the faint of heart, I don’t think. I speak for myself when I say, I bitch because I love. 😉

Most Ridiculous Occupation: Bristol Palin, Teen Activist

Heidi: Teen Activist?? Seriously?? Oookkaayyy. But I gotta ask, how much activisting has she done recently? Or is that done until Mom runs for office again? Yep, I made up a word. Hell, her mom does it ever day, why can’t I?? 🙂

Courtney: I knew they were gonna try and spin the activist angle – just like they did for Heather Mills. They decided to be all PC and call her a “human rights activist” instead of “gold-digging ex-wife of Beatle Paul McCartney.” Oh well, whatevs – at least Bristol seems sweet & likeable. Even if I’m not quite sure just how much “activisting” she actually does 😉

Heidi: Two potentially disastrous choices by professionals – possibly professionals who are burned out. What idiot changes his whole routine for the FIRST week simply because they’re dancing first?? Dude, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Audrina is NOT a professional performer. I don’t think it was nice or fair to her for you to change the whole thing with a week left before show time. Lucky for you there’s an even bigger idiot in town and his name is Louis. 🙂 Need I say more?

Courtney: I’m still shaking my heard at the Margaret & Louis routine. I guess I understand IN THEORY what they were going for, but it totally missed the mark. I reiterate: DO NOT TRY AND BREAK THE RULES THIS EARLY IN THE COMPETITION! Just go with the flow and prove that you can follow them for the first few weeks, then slowly, you can start to bend them. These two definitely dodged a bullet this week – and it kinda pisses me off that Louis has more or less said that he intends to do the exact same thing in upcoming weeks. Dude, if you get sent home next week, you cannot bitch and moan about how “unfair” the show is, because it will be YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. Dig your own grave, then lay in it. As for Tony’s tweaking of Audrina’s routine – meh, probably not the best idea, but without seeing how it would’ve looked beforehand, I can’t really say for sure that it was a drastic change. He might have only changed one or two moves. Audrina is a pretty awkward mover regardess – some minor changes may have had a slightly negative effect on her performance, but I don’t really think she would’ve knocked the original routine out of the park, either. Either way, they too dodged a bullet – the same one that went whizzing past Margaret & Louis, and barely grazed their ears.

The Guffaw Right Outta the Gate Award goes to: Len Goodman for his focus on his own buttocks.

Heidi: Bwahaha – Len, dude, I don’t need the mental image of your butt. Lucky for you Derek was photographed sans shirt recently. I can cleanse my mental image. Plus there’s booze in my fridge. In case you couldn’t tell, I was drinking when I wrote this.

Courtney: Len’s quips are pretty hit or miss for me – either hilarious, or cringe-inducing. This falls in the latter category. Blech. 🙁

Most Wack-ass Hair Accessory of the Night: Lacey’s Minnie Mouse Bow

Heidi: My inner dialogue when I first see Kyle and Lacey – “What the hell is Lacey wearing?? Did someone graffiti her? And what a stupid ass bow!!” It grew on me after a bit – except I was still left with “what a stupid ass bow!”

Courtney: Sure didn’t grow on me…while I understood what they were going for (and they did perform really well), the whole thing just felt so overdone to me. I could’ve done without the locker bit at the beginning, with the glasses and the gum. And that hair! Yeesh…too blonde, too big, too extension-y. The bow was just the rotten cherry on top. It was as if her entire ensemble just seemed to scream “Look at me! Look at me! I’M BLONDE! I’M REBELLIOUS! I’M BACK!!!”

Heidi: There ain’t nuthin’ rebellious about being blonde. Just sayin’. 🙂

The Color me NOT Surprised Award – Cheryl Burke Wears a Sheer Skirt

Heidi: ANOTHER sheer skirt on Cheryl – is this a new addiction?? I mean it was lovely, but damn – if you count last season that’s got to be four or five in a row. Leave some sheer fabric for the other girls (and some of the men), Girl!!

Courtney: Again, the Randall folks must’ve had a brain fart: “Damn, we need a ballgown for Cheryl. Ok, I have an idea – take the pattern from Joanna’s rumba dress, make it a little longer, and then make the skirt sheer like the dresses from Cheryl’s tango, foxtrot, and waltz dresses from last season, tack some feathers on the bottom, and BOOM! BRILLIANT!!! It will look like a COMPLETELY new dress!” Hehe…or not, if you’ve got a keen eye for costumes like Heidi & I 😉

Best WTF?!?! Reaction of the Night: Cheryl’s reaction to Brooke’s comment after her dance with Rick.

Heidi: LOL – poor Cheryl was clearly a victim of the voices in Brooke’s head. I mean the production staff. I think. 🙂 Just throw statements at a girl and then leave her hanging, Brooke!

Courtney: At least Cheryl seemed to shrug it off with a smile. But I’m not done with Brooke yet…

The Cheesiest, Most OMGiest, Wack Ass Moment of the Performance Show – Margaret Cho and Louis Van Amstel

Heidi: I’m harping, yes, I know. It just started out so well. Then Louis jumped his little ass in a handbasket and rode it all the way to hell, if you get my meaning and I think you do. WTF with the gold fan thing? Why would you do this on the first week? There is such a thing as winning people over slowly as opposed to, say, bashing them over the head with a bronze fabric wing and a prat fall. Just fucking dance.

Courtney: Ugh…do I really even have to comment on this one? It was just nonsense. Little to no legit dancing. And things got even more awkward when Margaret took it upon herself to envelop herself (and a very befuddled Brooke) in those wings after getting her scores. I didn’t think it was possible for Brooke to look any more confused…and then she did.

Courtney: Ooh! Speaking of which, I think I figured out where I’ve seen those wings before. They were leftover material from Kelly’s samba dress. But I loved when Tom, forced by the powers that be to drag out the suspense through another commercial break, lightened the mood by actually pointing out that they were killing time.

Bruno Double Entendre of the Night – I Love the Taste of Brandy in the evening.

Heidi: Yeah, well I’m drinking Champagne…oh, wait. Bwah!! (Just a note to anyone who might have some weird urge to send me booze – don’t really like Brandy. I’m a champers girl all the way. The expensive kind. 🙂 )

Courtney: Always more than a little awkward when comments like these come out of Bruno’s mouth – especially in regards to the ladies 😛 But I concur…brandy seems like such an old man’s drink. Give me a bottle of champagne as well – but Korbel will do just fine. Just make sure I drink plenty of water and see that I make it into bed safely 😉

Heidi: Get the Korbel that has “methode champenois” (sp?) on the label. That’s naturally fermented and less likely to attack your head. OH, and you made me remember Bruno’s other faux pas…when he said that Bristol was in “virgin territory”. Um, oops. 😉

The “Please hand me the bleach so I can pour it on my eyeballs” Moment: Florence’s bra!

Heidi: Shit. While I feel I may be permanently scarred by the experience, I have to admire Florence for pure chutzpah. You go…woman. 🙂

Courtney: I’d like to amend this award to the “Most Bizarre Celeb Behavior Award” – because Flo was seriously acting weird this week. The bra, the cussing, the random giggling while Brooke interviewed other couples in the red room – hell, even The Situation got a little uncomfortable when she asked to touch his abs! It was all just very, very odd – and definitely not typical Florence behavior. Again, I’m afraid she’s trying too hard to be like Cloris, and rather than coming across as funny like her…this is just kinda off-putting and phony to me. Be yourself, Flo…we’ll love you, we promise 😀

Zinger of the Night: Len to the Sitch – You’ve got the guns but not the amunition!!

Heidi: LOL!!! I thought Bergeron was the only person on the show that was pure genius in terms of off the cuff one liners. Holy hell, that was good, Len. You old curmudgeon you.

Courtney: I think The Situation’s swagger may have diminished a bit after that one…which is a feat. 😉 Way to go, Len!

The Line of the night that even Bergeron Admires: Len –“It’s never too early to panic”

Heidi: No fucking kidding!!

Courtney: If the producers are panicking about the elimination…maybe we all should!

Most Disappointing Reappearance – Adam Carolla

Heidi: Oh man, I was so disappointed. That segment was a cheese supreme pizza and not in a good way. He was SO awesome last season that I guess I was expecting more. I did LOL at Bruno and the Brunettes (aka Mark, Corky, Maks and…Tony?). LOL. But seriously – Adam was so funny last season and this just fell flat to me. And I WAS drinking so it should have been funnier…but, sadly, no.

Courtney: I get the feeling that the “powers that be” may have had a hand in reigning in Adam’s usual humor a bit. Because the few times I’ve seen him before, he’s been a RIOT. This wasn’t even as funny as Dance Center – and I don’t even find that particularly funny. FAIL!

The Stand Your Ass Still Cheeseball Award: The producers, for having the half brained idea of having Brooke wander the backstage area to casually interview the top 4; Runner up – The staged “getting ready” bit prior to the first pro dance of the results show

Heidi: The wanding mic stuff is crap. Yes, let’s make this stuff appear even MORE staged than it was before. GREAT idea. :::end sarcasm:::

Courtney: The hairstylist pretending to fluff Brandy’s hair? Jennifer visibly waiting in the wings for her cue to come sit next to Rick? The staged “group of people with press passes” passing through in the background? DUMB. Oh, and the equally fake shot of Kym, Corky, Anna, Tony, & Cheryl pretending to get ready for the pro dance backstage? Again, FAIL. Corky doesn’t jog anywhere. Pssshhh…

Most Sucktastic Musical appearance: Daughtry/Santana

Heidi: Holy sucktastic, Batman. Even the presence of my gorgeous blond pretend boyfriend couldn’t make this sucker work. The music, the lighting, the camera work – even the guitar work. Sucktastic. The pros were great, clearly – but that was about it. Let’s blind the audience with concert lighting that we haven’t done good camera blocking for. GREAT IDEA!! And then, let’s lose control of the camera pan completely!! Awesome!! Almost as good as Jennifer being totally out of frame the night before during her dance – although I appreciate the focus on my hot blond pretend boyfriend. 🙂 What this is REALLY about though, is that I am TOTALLY pissed that we didn’t get an all Professional number SANS musical guest that stole precious camera time. For as much as I bitch about some of the other pros, I WANT desperately to see them all dance together with the spotlight on them and only them. Why is that too much to ask???

Courtney: While I actually think the album version of this remake is pretty good, this whole production of this number (and really all of the pro dances last night) was a mess. I think the whole scaffolding & stage at the back of the ballroom really threw everything off, the lighting was blinding, and honestly, at times the sound seemed a bit off – as in things sounded almost off-key. Just too much, all of it. I love Daughtry, I love Santana, I love the two together – but not live.

Most Disturbing Fixation: Kyle’s fascination with Lacey’s boobs

Courtney: Really, dude? I mean, I know that little corset she had on was putting them right in your face, but at least pretend like you’re not intentionally looking at them. And then in practice – you really want to use them as your “focusing point” when turning? Oy…and then you felt the need to feel her up in the confessional, and pretend to poke them. I mean, if it were Kym’s boobs, I totally wouldn’t blame you…;-)

Heidi: I got one thing to say – Kyle, you’re trying too hard. Even for a 19 year old. But perhaps you have found the best way to suck up to your pro? Focus on her boobs = massage of her ego. 🙂

The “Back to Square One” Award: Brooke’s many flubs and awkward moments throughout both nights of competition

Courtney: Where do I begin? She mispronounced both Anna & Kyle’s names at least once; multiple awkward silences; totally odd, rehearsed responses to some of the cast member’s answers to her questions – let’s face it: as much as I didn’t care for Samantha Harris, at least she could go with the flow of the show. It’s as though Brooke regressed during the off-season back to her first night as the co-host of the show (which was ridiculously painful to witness). Oy. If this keeps up…it’s gonna be a LONG season for me…

Heidi: You watch, she will get markedly better when she puts a bumpit under her hair to house Voldemort. That’s the thing, see, Voldie is off trying to vanquish Harry Potter and has lost interest in controlling her. I’m tellin’ ya. 😉 Look at it this way – we’ll have plenty of material for the Cheesecake awards. 🙂

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Well, I had this one in the mix, but didn’t call it. I don’t actually think any of the bloggers did. 🙂 I suggested it after a Tom Bergeron tweet this afternoon, but that doesn’t really count.

The Eliminated Couple? The Hoff and Kym. Oh, Kym, you epitome of hot woman we all wish we could be, how I will miss you.

The Score Card: Courtney: Had the Hoff in fifth place. Understandable – I thought he had a fanbase too, but maybe it’s all international these days.

Heidi: Well, I considered it for a brief moment but never believed it would happen. Thought for sure it was between The Sitch and The Cho.

Marianya: Ms. Mari chooses the hard road and makes a prediction of the scores before she sees the dances. Based mainly on who’s dancing what and an estimation of how well they’ll do. And judging by how well Courtney and I did tonight, she can’t fare worse. 🙂 She nailed Kurt and Brandy’s scores – excellent! But she had David getting a 20, doing better than Kyle, Audrina and several others.

Ah well. We all struck out this week – except for John who leaves the predictions to us women. 😉

Tune in tomorrow for the Cheesecake awards. Beware – I feel bitchier than normal. 🙂 I wuz robbed of an all pro, no musical act, dance. And that pisses me OFF.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

It’s time once again to look at the numbers and guess who is likely to go home. For new readers, I started this series mainly because people were placing too high an emphasis on the scores, when really the scoring can be misleading and it often comes down to VOTES. Now, early in the season this isn’t as true as it is later in the season. Why? Well, there are more people who divide up the votes and scores, and when you have one couple scoring a 24 and another couple scoring a 15 you don’t really need to do the math to figure that the couple with the 15 could be in trouble. 🙂

A refresher…

Here’s how it works. Every couple gets a score between 3 and 30. Once ALL the scores have been handed out, they are added up to reach the total points awarded on a given night. That number is divided into each individual score to give that couple their percentage of the judges score. That accounts for HALF of the couples total score, the other half being the viewer votes.

The viewer votes work the same way – the total number of votes cast is divided into the number of votes a couple got for a percentage. The two percentages (Judges score and Viewer vote) are then added together. The couple with the lowest combined score is the couple that goes home tonight.

Margaret, Sitch and David are all 3.52 points away from Brandy and Kyle – which equates to about 35.5k votes per 1 million votes cast. So, I can easily call Jennifer, Brandy and Kyle safe. I don’t see Margaret, Sitch and David ALL getting 35.5k votes per million more than Jennifer, Brandy or Kyle. I suppose it’s possible in Kyle’s case – and would have said it was possible before last night – but Kyle just did a great freakin’ job on his dance. I don’t think he has a huge fanbase, but his score was high enough to keep him safe, I think.

So, I think Brandy, Jennifer and Kyle are safe – and likely safe for a few weeks as all three were just amazing in different ways. I actually liked Maks’ “I’m being good” face, love Brandy, Jennifer made me freakin’ cry and Kyle was a joy to watch. But what about the others?

Rick and Cheryl – beautiful couple, although I don’t see quite the fabulocity that some of my co-bloggers do. I’m rooting for him because he seems very sweet and he sure is purdy. 🙂 I don’t think he’s going anywhere at all.

Audrina and Tony – pretty much what I expected; beautiful but forgettable. And, in my opinion, Tony made what could have been a very costly error. He changed up their dance a week before show time solely based on them being the first to dance. Dude, she’s good but she ain’t a trained dancer nor is she experienced at dancing live. Why on earth would you take a routine that she probably had down COLD and change it up?? What were you thinking?? By doing that, an element of nerves was added that didn’t need to be there. I think that Tony is lucky that Margaret was so freakin ‘ bad – and that Audrina managed to pull it off with only some stiffness and lack of fire. That could have been a disaster. I still wonder if she wouldn’t have been much better on their old routine.

Kurt and Anna – disappointing. Pretty stiff. But they should be safe on the football vote for a while. Until the football vote gets beat by the basketball vote. 🙂

Bristol and Mark – she was not good, but she’s also not a performer or athlete or remotely used to being on TV in this setting. She didn’t totally suck. I was rooting for her – she’s just a kid, after all. I gotta give it up to Mark Ballas, because he was totally there for her the whole way through. Kinda wrapped himself around her like a security blanket. Very sweet. I think she’s safe based on the conservative vote.

Florence and Corky – Don’t know about these two. I went into this thinking she would go a long way based on the nostalgia vote, but there is a hell of a lot of nostalgia floating around the ball room these days, and a lot of characters. She might be safe for 2 more weeks.

Now we get to the bottom four who were just varying degrees of awful. Out of this, Michael has a slight leg up on his competition. He’s 0.44% ahead of them in the Judges scores, which equates to about 4,400 votes per 1 million votes cast. So the question is (providing I’m right about the top 8 of course), can Margaret, David AND the Sitch ALL get 4,400 more votes per 1 million cast such that he goes home? I don’t think so. I think David and Michael both have fanbases that intersect the viewers voting on this show. I think Michael and David are safe.

That leaves us with The Sitch and Margaret. Oh, Louis, I think you may have possibly hosed your partner in the first week. Last season was full of weird gimmicks and themes and this season you pull out the (attempt at) funny in the very first week?? What are you trying to do? Whatever it is, you’re trying too HARD. I thought all of that fell totally flat and ruined what could have been a good dance. This was a huge risk that may have cost you. Why? Because I think Jersey Shore fans can be counted on for ONE week of voting. That’s probably all they have in them before they get bored and go on to something else – they are unlikely to be the typical viewer/voter. Margaret and Louis stood out – but not in a good way. I just don’t understand – after Niecy and Kelly does Louis feel like he has a successful, quirky niche and so is trying too hard to keep that niche going? I think you need to taylor your choreo to your partner and the circumstances, not to your past success.

Call ME crazy, but I think you have to save the crazy for the second week, when the first time fluke voters have lost the urge to vote. So, I believe tonight comes down to a battle between the Jersey Shore Fans and the GLBT Community that loves Margaret Cho. With Margaret on the losing end and going home.

What do you guys think? Have I over estimated the power of Michael and the Hoff? Or do you think the Sitch’s Jersey mates ain’t got what it takes to vote? Listen carefully tonight to what Tom says as it could be an indicator of weeks to come. Will he use the words “bottom two” and keep it straight up? Or will they pull a faux bottom two and push Michael or David – or Audrina or Brandy or Jennifer – in there to ratchet up the tension?

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)